Igtip Kangertiva, also known as Comanche Bay (),
is a fjord in Eastern
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...
. It is part of the
Sermersooq
Sermersooq () is a municipality in Greenland, formed on 1 January 2009 from five previous, smaller municipalities. Its administrative seat is the city of Nuuk (formerly called Godthåb), the capital of Greenland, and it is the most populous ...
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
.
History
During World War II a
weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasting, weather forecasts and to study the weather and clima ...
of the
US Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...
[Spencer Apollonio, ''Lands That Hold One Spellbound: A Story of East Greenland'', 2008 pp. 272-275] and the
US Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, mi ...
was established in Comanche Bay. The decision was taken in the spring of 1942 and the
USCGC Comanche (WPG-76), a ship of the
Greenland Patrol
The Greenland Patrol was a United States Coast Guard operation during World War II. The patrol was formed to support the U.S. Army building aerodrome facilities in Greenland for ferrying aircraft to the British Isles, and to defend Greenland wit ...
, was sent to survey the fjord. The USCGC Comanche reached the site in July and the bay was subsequently named after it.
Besides the weather facility the US military wanted a base from which the warplanes of
Operation Bolero
Operation Bolero was the commonly used reference for the code name of the United States military troop buildup in the United Kingdom during World War II in preparation for the initial cross-channel invasion plan known as Operation Roundup, to ...
that were forced to land on the
Greenland ice sheet
The Greenland ice sheet is an ice sheet which forms the second largest body of ice in the world. It is an average of thick and over thick at its maximum. It is almost long in a north–south direction, with a maximum width of at a latitude ...
could be rescued. Owing to its closeness to the inland ice, Comanche Bay was deemed a favorable place from which to send rescue patrols. However, when shortly thereafter a
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during ...
crash-landed on the ice sheet not far from Comanche Bay, a rescue operation ran into difficulties because of treacherous crevasses near the crash site and two men were lost. Following this accident the base was closed in the fall of the same year.
On account of war-related priorities the Comanche Bay base was reestablished in 1943 by Major John T. Crowell, along with a facility at
Cape Cort Adelaer further south down the coast. The weather station was located on top of a high hill that was named Atterbury Dome, after the captain of the USCGC Comanche. The coastal stations were abandoned at the end of the war.
Geography
Igtip Kangertiva or Comanche Bay lies at the southwestern limit of
King Christian IX Land
King Christian IX Land () is a coastal area of Southeastern Greenland in Sermersooq Municipality fronting the Denmark Strait and extending through the Arctic Circle from 65°N to 70°N.
History
This area was named in September 1884 by Gustav ...
, a few miles east of
Pikiulleq
Pikiulleq is a bay in eastern Greenland. It is part of the Sermersooq municipality.
Geography
Pikiulleq Bay is located at the northern end of King Frederick VI Coast, north of the Fridtjof Nansen Peninsula
Fridtjof Nansen Peninsula () is a pen ...
. Its mouth lies between
Ole Romer Island to the west and
Aqitseq to the east.
[''Prostar Sailing Directions 2005 Greenland and Iceland Enroute'', p. 103] The fjord is oriented in a roughly NNW/SSE direction. There are a number of low islets in its western shore close to its mouth.
See also
*
List of fjords of Greenland
This is a list of the most important fjords of Greenland:In Greenland, Northern Greenland, a large area made up entirely of fjords; therefore Peary Land above not a fjord but a fjord area.In Greenland, Northeastern Greenland, a large area made ...
*
My Gal Sal (aircraft)
''My Gal Sal'' is a B-17E-BO Flying Fortress whose pilot was forced to land it on the Greenland icecap during World War II. Many years later, it was recovered and returned to the United States to be restored. It is one of only four surviving ...
References
Bibliography
* Wallace R. Hansen. ''Greenland's Icy Fury''. Williams-Ford Texas A&M University Military History Series. 1994 .
External links
*{{usurped,
The lost squadron and Comanche Bay}
*
ttps://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/high-risk-rescue-attempt-greenland.html War History - A plane found 38 feet under the ice: A Daring, High-Risk Rescuebr>
‘Frozen in Time’: The fate of brave airmen, locked in the ice
Fjords of Greenland
World War II sites in Greenland